Contents

Characteristics

The Monado is a powerful energy blade that can manipulate the ether around it, and by doing so, change the material and immaterial shape of the world. One's ability to control the Monado depends on the strength of will of its user; most Homs who try to use the sword cannot control it. At the beginning of the game, the Monado cannot harm any of the people of Bionis.

The Monado grants its elected wielder the power of foresight. It is said that this is possible because all of the ether in the world is calculable in its changes. This allows the user to see where every ether particle is, was, and will be.

The Monado emits a particular ether wavelength in its ground state that attracts Telethia. Also, the Monado can be counteracted by opposing particles to that of the Monado.

All of the seers must touch the Monado to receive their divination powers.

Story

Prior to Xenoblade Chronicles

14 years before the game, a group of Homs explorers left Colony 9 in search of the fabled sword. Their travels took them to Valak Mountain, where they disappeared. After them went Dickson, who found the bodies of the research team in the Sealed Tower, next to the Monado. He took the weapon along with the only survivor, who would grow up to be Shulk.

One year before the events of the game, the first known Homs wielder of the Monado, Dunban, was able to exercise limited control of the sword and use it as a weapon against the Mechon at the Battle of Sword Valley. In doing so, he was able to thwart an attack against Colony 9. Due to sheer discipline and strength he could wield the blade, even though he could not fully control it. Dunban unwittingly sacrificed the use of his right arm for victory in the battle against the Mechon.

Colony 9

Shulk dedicated his entire life to solving the secrets of the Monado and thus is not only able to wield the blade without problems, but also able to unlock its great power. Shulk experiences this great power for the first time when he sees the future while holding the Monado in his laboratory. However, he learns that he has no control over what he sees, so he does not know he was granted foresight at the beginning.

When the Mechon attack Colony 9, during the second round of the story battle event at Central Plaza, Dunban joins Shulk and Reyn wielding the Monado. During the third story event battle, Dunban, not yet recovered from his injuries, tries to use again the Monado. When the Monado flies out of Dunban's hand, Shulk picks up the Monado. At this point, he gains the ability to predict the future, although not by choice. Thanks to the Monado's foresight, Shulk avoids getting killed. However, he is unable to damage Metal Face in any way with the Monado, which leaves him helpless against the Faced Mechon when he kills Fiora.

Tephra Cave

Shulk and Reyn decide to avenge Fiora and set out for Colony 6. While in Tephra Cave, Shulk has a vision of the Arachno Queen killing Reyn. The prediction proves true when Shulk and Reyn fall into the Arachno Queen's Nest. Shulk unlocks another Monado ability, Monado Shield, allowing him to change the future that the Monado had predicted. After this event, Shulk is able to use the foresight in all battles, and subsequently able to use Monado Shield to defend against enemy arts. This prescience becomes a principal topic of the game.

Makna Forest

While looking for ether crystals alone in Makna Forest, Shulk is attacked by strange monsters. When he tries to confront them, however, he is unable to face them, as they can read his thoughts. However, a Homs by the name of Alvis manages to control the Monado and unlock another of its powers. He explains that the Monado does not control its power, but its user does.

Alcamoth

The party learns in Alcamoth, the High Entia capital, that the Monado was sealed away by the High Entia forefathers.

When the party follows Sorean to Prison Island, they meet a giant by the name of Zanza, who was also locked away by the same forefathers. He claims to be the creator of the Monado, and offers to remove the shackles that prevent the Monado from harming beings of Bionis if he is released. Shulk agrees, and even though Zanza is apparently killed by Metal Face, the Monado is released, transforming into the Monado II, and Shulk can finally harm Faced Mechon. However, he can also hear the voice of Zanza through the blade for the first time.

Galahad Fortress

The leader of Mechonis, Egil, uses the Apocrypha Generator located in the Central Factory from Galahad Fortress to revert the Monado to its inert state. Even after the battle ends, Shulk still cannot use the Monado. He finally forces it to awaken, but the use of the Monado is taxing to him.

Mechonis Core

When the party slays Yaldabaoth, Egil explains that Zanza inhabits beings of Bionis to live, and his soul dwells in the Monado. He tells the story of Arglas, and how Zanza used his body to wage war against Mechonis. After the battle, he was incarcerated in Prison Island and the Monado was sealed in Ose Tower, now called the Sealed Tower. After the story is told, Dickson appears and shoots Shulk with his rifle. Zanza leaves Shulk's body, revealing that the Monado is the weapon of destruction, the holder of Zanza's soul. After this revelation, Meyneth comes out from Fiora's body and uses her Monado (the symbol which appears on Fiora's chest) to battle Zanza. When Zanza defeats Meyneth, he takes Meyneth's Monado. With it, Zanza no longer needs to inhabit a living being to survive. However, Zanza did not realise that there was another Monado; Shulk's Monado.

Alvis

When the party slays Zanza for the last time, a light connects the three Monados. After this, a voice is heard: Alvis, who says he is the Monado. He explains that Shulk is a god now because he has found his Monado, and that he can decide the fate of all the universe.

In the Super Smash Bros. series

Shulk is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii Uand Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He uses the Monado (in its first form) in battle, and when it is activated in battle, Shulk's features and abilities change. The game adds two Monado Arts that are not in Xenoblade Chronicles; Jump (翔, lit. "soar"), which gives Shulk higher jumps, a higher-height Air Slash and lower defense, and Smash (撃, lit. "attack/strike"), which gives Shulk stronger knockback/launching power but at the cost of lower damage output and launching resistance.

Arts

Shulk can activate the Monado's Arts by selecting the large icon in the center of the screen when it is fully charged. He then has access to the various Arts the Monado can perform. Each Art is unlocked at various points in the game, with only Buster and Enchant being available initially. In the beginning, the Monado arts can only reach level 4. After the events on Prison Island, all of the Arts can reach level 10.

When Shulk reaches level 90, the Monado's minimum and maximum Attack values both reach the maximum of 999. At this point Attack Stability gems will have no effect unless paired with an Attack Plus gem.

Trivia

The powers of the Monado are similar to those of the Zohar, an object that was present in both Xenogears and Xenosaga. The explanation Alvis gives about the origin of the Monado suggest that he has similar capabilities as a Zohar. In addition, the red color and the appearance of the Monado resembles the "Weltall-Id", which becomes the titular Xenogears.

In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, during the two boss fights against Malos at the Cliffs of Morytha, he wields a sword bearing a strong resemblance to the Monado that uses four of the Monado arts: Buster, Armour, Cyclone, and Eater. He also uses an art called "Monado Jail", extremely similar to Monado Purge; however, Monado Enchant, Monado Shield, and Monado Speed are not used.

The name of the Monado is likely derived from the philosophical idea of the monad, which can be traced back to use in ancient Greece. It is generally used to describe some kind of indivisible unit, and in philosophy, the basic, indivisible underlying element of reality (whatever that philosophy purports that to be - e.g. God, energy, material). The term is used in Gnosticism (among many others), which in turn links Xenoblade Chronicles in theme to Tetsuya Takahashi's other works, Xenosaga and Xenogears. In chemistry, the term monad represents an atom with a valence of one.

In the Italian version of the game, the Monado is called "Monade", the Italian word for monad.

In various cutscenes, the Japanese Kanji symbol displayed in the Monado says what it is capable of killing. When Shulk begins the game, the Monado displays the symbol for "Machine". When Zanza is freed on Prison Island and Shulk gets the Monado II, it says "Person". During the final battle, when Zanza looks at Shulk's Monado III and says "That symbol...", it is because the symbol now displayed says "God".

Despite the game's lore saying the Monado cannot harm anything born of Bionis, in gameplay it has no difficulty harming any of the monsters that inhabit Bionis. However, when the player is attacked by High Entia in Alcamoth, Shulk's attacks will bounce off their bodies.

Each art of the Monado shows a different color of the blade of light when used.